July 13, 2012

Native
to tropical Asia, Africa and Caribbea, and found usually in Asian markets, bitter
melon or bitter gourd is not everyone’s cup of tea. Wonder why? Think bitter.
Seriously bitter. With a lingering flavor. Yes, true to its name, the alarming
bitter taste and smell is the main drawback for haters, not the bumpy green skin.
Due to its unappealing flavor, bitter melon is more confined to its roots of
origin—global cooks don’t see much of this fruity vegetable, or for that
matter, know of its existence. Known about as pavakka
or kaipakka in Malayalam, and karela in Hindi and Urdu, it is commonly
used in Indian and Pakistani cooking.

At
the term karela, my thoughts drift to
some of the most wonderful summer afternoons and lunchtimes with
colleagues—lost memories of few summers past. My dear friends Tancy, Nadine,
and I were were at lunch on a busy work day when the guy seated next to me
at the table asked quizzically, ‘Where are you from?’ Feeling very gauche, I
kept it brief and replied, ‘Kerala.’ He turned to look at me and probed softly
‘Karela?’ Those at the table chuckled in amusement, while someone explained the
difference between karela and Kerala to this person of Tunisian origin. I
still smile in reminiscence of those times.

Not
many people have developed a taste and appreciation for bitter melon, which historically
has been valued for its healing properties. It is an excellent source of antioxidants,
antimutagen and phenolic compounds, plus low in calories. Back home, bitter
melon juice is used as an effective cure for diabetes—one of the most noted of
its medicinal properties.

More
of an acquired taste, I’ve personally never liked karela and used to avoid this
veggie until I walked down the aisle and realized that my husband adores this
bitterness. Because of its bold flavors there’s only one way it can be tackled
in my dictionary—paired with oodles of tamarind and enough chili. That’s right.
Assertive flavors like sour and spicy help tame the harshness of the melon’s
natural bitterness. Result? Bitter, tart, spicy and salty—I’m certainly not
complaining. Oh, other than the curried version, we also enjoy deep-fried melon—both
dried and fresh, and heavily seasoned with spices.

This
curry is incredibly simple to make—it’s as easy as tossing a bunch of ingredients
into the pot and letting it simmer away while you listen to your favorite tunes
on ipod. No laundry list of ingredients, or labor-intensive steps like sautéing
in oil, and grinding ingredients to a paste. The key ingredients—thinly sliced
melon, onion, tomato, chili and tamarind—are cooked for about half an hour
until the veggies are tender and the bitterness is drowned out by other prominent
flavors. Garnished with mustard seeds spluttered in hot oil, the flavors are so
good, anyone with an acquired palate will simply love it.

While
selecting bitter melon, choose the pale green to white ones for a milder taste,
as opposed to the dark green ones which are much more bitter—different varieties
differ in their bitterness. Further, blanching the veg in boiling water for few
minutes and draining away the juices also helps reduce the unappealing flavor.

Generous amount of tamarind is used in this
recipe—adjust measures according to sourness of the melon. These days I
simply pick up a jar of tamarind paste from the stores instead of going through
the traditional chore of soaking the pods in water and extracting the pulp.

I hope you fall in love
with this deeply hued, simple vegetarian curry packed with nutrition—enjoy.

To prep the melon, trim
the ends off and halve each lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and spongy insides;
discard. Cut the halved melons into thin slices.

Meanwhile,
dissolve tamarind pate in ¾ cup warm water; set aside.

Put
bitter melon, onion, tomato, green chili, curry leaf, tamarind water, remaining water and salt in
a medium pot (I prefer cooking in a clay pot). Bring to boil over medium-high
heat. Then tip in ground chili and turmeric and cook until vegetables soften, and
liquid reduces to a thick sauce, about 25-30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Finally, heat oil in a small skillet until shimmering. Add mustard seeds and cook until
fragrant and sizzling, about 10 seconds. Then stir in broken dry red chilies
and curry leaves; quickly remove from heat. Pour the spice-infused oil over the
curry, stir, and serve warm scooped up with plain rice.

Hope you are having a stunning summer weekend—the last before Ramadan.

19 comments:

I am not much of a bitter melon but my dad absolutely loves it. I remembering him force-feeding us his favorite vegetable when we were kids. I can eat bitter melon now but only if its' cooked in a 'sweet and sour' way. That's when all the bitterness is masked with other strong flavors. I have never tried cooking/eating it without any jaggery in it!! Your recipe sounds interesting.

I wonder where I have been all this while. How come, I have missed out on checking out this blog? You have an absolutely wonderful blog and it really gets me excited to check out all your posts. Love love love it. Now a days, I check out very few blogs(only those I find interesting) on a regular basis. Now, it's one more to that list of mine. Btw. love your name too :)

A million thank you's for stopping by, taking the time to connect, and coming back to visit again. I genuinely appreciate each of your kind thoughts, lovely words, love and support. Happy, happy to hear from you, and hope to see you again!

About

Hey there. Welcome to my site! I'm Nashira, the author, the cook and the lensman behind Plateful. This is my personal platform for random memoirs, tidbits, tasty visuals — particularly adventures in the kitchen after styling and photographing it — and, so much more. Most everything you see here is my own work, and I hope you will enjoy it and find something inspirational.